-
Terrorism And Nigeria's External Image Under Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 2 of 4
-
-
-
As a result of the severity of insurgency in Nigeria most especially
during Goodluck Jonathan regime happens not to be new, in that Olalekan,
(2012) argued that terrorism took a different dimensions since 2009
when internal terrorism in Nigeria moved from ethnic militancy to
suicide bombing, a situation that has claimed over 3,000 lives, led to
the declaration of state of emergency in five northern states, and the
sack of the Defence Minister, Police Chief and National Security
Adviser (Olalekan, 2012). According to the United States
Department’s Global Report on Terrorism, Nigeria ranked 2nd with 593
deaths in 2011 from terrorist killings on the African continent, second
to only the failed state of Somalia. On the global level, Nigeria was
placed 5th in the ranking of casualties (Country Report on Terrorism,
2010).
Nigeria is no stranger to terrorism, having experienced the
activities of the extremist sect Maitatsine movement that became violent
in the early 1980s under the first democratically elected civilian
government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Yan Tatsine (followers of
Maitatsine) was actually a quasi-Muslim fringe group who preached
Islamic doctrines that were contrary to the teachings of the Islamic
leadership and orthodox society. Muhammadu Marwa Maitatsine, the leader
of the sect, was a Muslim scholar Marwa city in northern Cameroon who
migrated to Kano in Nigeria (Danjibo, 2000). The ideology of Maitatsine
sect appealed to poverty - stricken young people seeking the opportunity
to confront the conservative governments of domination and traditional
Islamic state. Directive by the Federal Government to the police force
to crush the movement, which had large followership of unemployed young
people, has led to clashes with the police in Kano. Encouraged by the
‘defeat’ of the police, the sect marched in Kano city chanting “Yau zamu
sha jinniâ€, meaning “today we shall drink blood†in Hausa.
Historically,
Bamgbose, (2013) maintained that no terrorist group has ever been
created in a vacuum; there are political dynamics, contexts, social,
economic, temporal, spatial, and even religious-which must be taken into
account. Thus, a considerable amount of emphasis on the identification
of the range of environmental conditions and grievances of members of
the local population facilitated the possibilities of domestic terrorism
in Nigeria to gather support and orchestrate acts of political
violence. Similarly, Alabi, (2012) opined that Nigeria's government has
struggled to effectively deal with these complaints and sources of
tension across the country, and there is a widespread belief especially
among Nigerians North that the government continues to meet the critical
needs those who aspire to a better future. Although Tomis, (2011)
asserted that resources are certainly limited, it is the inequitable
distribution of resources, and widely recognized levels of corruption of
elites, which undermine the effectiveness of the government. In turn,
favoritism and corruption feeds a general perception that government
officials (to include the application of the law) cannot be trusted, and
this further undermines the government's ability to influence the
behavior of members of local communities in positive directions, away
from the appeal of the radical extremist ideologies such as Boko Haram
(Tomis, 2011).
On the other hand, as stated by Oghogho, (2011)
Nigeria, a key strategic ally of the U.S., has come under attack by a
radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram (a Hausa term for “Western
education is forbiddenâ€). Oghogho, maintained that it officially calls
itself “Jama’atul Alhul Sunnah Lidda’wati wal Jihad†which means “people
committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings and jihad.†As
its name suggests, the group is adamantly opposed to what it sees as a
Western-based incursion that threatens traditional values, beliefs, and
customs among Muslim communities in northern Nigeria (Oghogh, 2011).
Similarly, Laolu, (2013) opined that in an audiotape posted on the
Internet in January 2012, a spokesman for the group, Abubakar Shekau,
even accused the U.S. of waging war on Islam, the group is largely a
product of widespread socioeconomic and religious insecurities, and its
ideology resonates among certain communities because of both historical
narratives and modern grievances (Members of Boko Haram are drawn
primarily from the Kanuri tribe roughly 4 percent of the population),
who are concentrated in the northeastern states of Nigeria like Bauchi
and Borno, and the Hausa and Fulani (29 percent of the population)
spread more generally throughout most of the northern states. Balogun,
(2014) disclosed that since 2009, the group has attacked police stations
and patrols, politicians (including village chiefs and a member of
parliament), religious leaders (both Christian and Muslim), and
individuals whom they deem to be engaged in un-Islamic activities, like
drinking beer. Boko Haram has also carried out several mass casualty
attacks and is the first militant group in Nigeria to embrace the use of
suicide bombings (Balogun, 2014).
Hence, the study realize terrorism
to mean all varieties of violent motion by clandestine and
semi-clandestine actors aimed at attaining criminal, army, religious,
political or different objectives, with such movements always directed
at executive and non-combatant populations with the deliberate objective
of spreading worry, anxiety and terror.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 2 of 4
-
